Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

8-1984

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major Professor

Joseph H. Stauss

Committee Members

Jan E. Allen, William A. Poppen, Gary W.

Abstract

This study examined the extent to which child-rearing behaviors of Puerto Rican parents predicted the self-esteem jf adolescents from divorced and intact families. It also attempted to examine if adolescent's self-esteem was determined by the length of time since parent's divorce and by the family's socioeconomic status (measured by father's educational level). The study further examined whether the correlation between school achievement and self-esteem differed depending on the marital status of the family. A final purpose was to determine whether correlations between parental behaviors and self-esteem varied with family status and whether there were parent/ adolescent gender differences.

The adolescent's perception of parental behaviors, self-esteem and demographic data were explored by the use of the Parent Behavior Scale, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and a Socio-demographic Data Questionnaire. The data were gathered from four senior high schools located in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The sample consisted of 65 males and 37 females from intact families and 42 males and 44 females from divorced families. Pearson Correlation coefficient analysis was used in order to examine the relationships between perceived parental behaviors (support, induction, coercion and love withdrawal) and adolescents self-esteem.

The analysis of the data revealed a significant positive relationship between maternal support and the self-esteem of sons from divorced families. A similar positive relationship was found for mother/son, mother/daughter and father/son intact-family dyads. The positive influence of induction was significant in relation to adolescent self-esteem within same-sex divorced-family dyads (father/ son, mother/daughter). For adolescents from intact-families, there were positive relationships within cross-gender dyads (father/daughter, mother/son) between parental induction and self-esteem.

A significant negative relationship was found between maternal coercion and self-esteem for both sons and daughters from divorced-family dyads. A similar negative relationship was found for all parent/adolescent intact-family dyads. Significant negative relationships also were found between maternal love withdrawal and the self-esteem of daughters from divorced families and this relationship was negatively related for sons from intact-family dyads.

In general, the findings of this study suggested that there were differences between the predictive inductive behaviors and predictive control attempts of Puerto Rican divorced and intact parents and the self-esteem of adolescents.

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